Expand the Dinner Table

Raising teens is a challenge. It’s a welcomed challenge, but a challenge nevertheless. Now, escalate the challenge by having two boys that are now taller than me (and sometimes more handsome). Hence, the reason for the title of this writing. Let me explain further.

We have a simple dining room table. It’s a maple-colored, pressed wooden table. I put it together myself some years ago. We have had numerous friends and family eat there. We have had family meetings there. We even sometimes (well, a lot) sorted our mail there. It’s a planning spot and even has been a classroom project assembly spot.

When our oldest son was born, his pediatrician observed his length and especially his feet. She concluded that he was going to be enormously tall. She said the same of our youngest son also. This was during a time when their feet were so cute and smelled so sweet. Well, I dare not smell their feet now, but her predictions have proven true. We use to make marks outside their door to measure how tall they grew over the years. One year our oldest grew approximately three inches in one summer! We knew we were in big trouble. He was the hardest child to find clothes for. He went through clothes like water flows from the faucet. We were buying pants for him seemingly every three weeks. 

Now we have two incredibly handsome teens in our house; one is currently 6′-4″ and the other 5′-10″. My youngest will surpass me in the next few months I am sure. This is the reason we had to expand the dining room table by another foot. But there’s more…

As a father of teens (especially teen boys), I cannot be so complacent as to think that they will mature on their own (even though as I write this they are 20 and 15). There is a lot of growing to do, specifically in their character, faith, and virtues. Their horizons still need to be expanded socially, politically, and even mentally. My own dad use to tell me that as a father, I had to be a man acting as the 4 P’s: Prophet, Protector, Priest, and Provider. Acting as these four attributes, I have to ensure that their faith is established and they understand essential core values and morals. Many teens have been stripped of essential values due to so many external forces, such as the internet, mental health challenges, substance abuse and peer pressure. It is impossible for me to protect them from all of them, but God forbid that I don’t expose them to society ills in hope that they will be conscientiously aware. On the flip side, I want to engage them in the positives of our world. I want to surround them with positively influential people, inform them to the benefits of an earned dollar, and model how prayer is a constant support to spiritual and mental stability.

Question to consider: As a dad, what area do you most feel you need to expand your horizons in raising your child?

I have a lot of work to do, but God has equipped me to face these challenges. I just wonder if they are going to stop growing any time soon. I have No Off Season…